At that time the town consisted of only a handful of houses, one public school, two gas stations, a post office and an A&P grocery store.

The group conducted a feasibility study that convinced the members to spend Kanata Theatre's $300,000 reserve fund on a playhouse project.

Peter Smith of the firm of Lett/Smith, Governor General's award winner for his restoration of London's Grand Theatre, designer of Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre, and long time architect for the Shaw Festival, was chosen to design the building.

Kanata Theatre took possession of its new home in March 1996 and in May of that year staged its first production in the Playhouse, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

The theatre is located at 1 Ron Maslin Way, near the Queensway (Highway 417) on the western side of Kanata, just off Terry Fox Drive.